Monday, February 8, 2010

Tips on honing your YA voice

Alan Rinzler's blog has some tips from agents for aspiring YA writers:

Wanna write a scorcher for the booming YA market? OK, here’s the secret: The first thing you need to do is create an authentic, quirky, true-to-life voice. The story and characterizations in Young Adult fiction are crucial too, of course, but the most important element is that distinctive narrative personality.

The strongest and most powerful voice is a first person “I” narrator that draws the reader right inside a young character’s head. Third-person can also work.

Always go for an honest voice that captures how teens really think and talk to each other. Never talk down. Never be phony or try to sound cool. That’s the bottom-line advice from three very active literary agents in the genre. Scroll down for more from our interview.